Kings advance to CCAA championship
Kings 3 Ooks 1
EDMONTON — The RDC Kings men’s volleyball team punched their ticket for the national championships Saturday night.
But their work this weekend is not yet finished.
The Kings qualified for the ACAC championship game against the Briercrest Clippers, beating the NAIT Ooks 3-1(23-25, 25-20, 25-18, 25-23). The top two teams from Alberta will qualify for CCAA tournament in Sherbrooke, Que. in two weeks, but they want to go in as the No. 1 seed from the ACAC.
“It’s a nice feeling,” said Kings head coach Aaron Schulha. “Obviously you want to win the conference championship, but it’s nice to go and be able to play a little bit loose knowing that both teams are going to nationals.”
Taylor Hunt led the Kings with 21 kills three blocks, eight digs and one ace.
The Ooks gave the Kings everything they had, even taking the first set, but RDC showed a resolve that will be important for when they go to Quebec.
“We battled them all the way through the first set and they just won the points when it mattered at the end,” said Schulha. “Unfortunately Sean Tuff, who’s been great for us all year in the middle, went down in the second set with an ankle injury and the rest of the guys just elevated their game after that which was nice to see.”
The extent of Tuft’s injury was not know at press time, but he will not be available for today’s championship game at 3:30 p.m.
The Clippers beat tournament host The King’s University College Eagles 3-1 (25-22, 25-17, 23-25, 25-19) to secure the other spot in the ACAC title game and trip to nationals.
l The Queens didn’t have the same luck at the ACAC Championships in Calgary, losing to the No. 1 seed and tournament host Mount Royal University in the semifinals Saturday.
The Cougars won 3-1 (25-21, 21-25, 18-25, 22-25) to drop the Queens to the bronze medal game against the Lakeland Rustlers of Lloydminster at 1 p.m. today.
The Cougars will play the Grande Prairie Regional College Wolves — who beat Lakeland 3-0 (32-30, 25-18, 25-18) — today for gold at 3:30 p.m.
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